An Expert’s Update on ROR1

Published on
January 13, 2016

Topics include:
Treatment

At the 2015
American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting, Patient Power founder Andrew
Schorr caught up with CLL expert Dr. Thomas Kipps to hear his perspective on
CLL news from the conference. Dr. Kipps reviews emerging data, including an
update on targeting the oncogene ROR1.
Dr. Kipps is enthusiastic about the possible use of combination therapy:
“We might be able to truly affect a cure for this disease!”

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Andrew Schorr:

I want to ask you about what could be a future, and that is ROR1, you've talked about before and with CAR T?cells and all of that. I'm not sure I understand it completely, but is this coming to a center near us sometime in the future?

Dr. Kipps:

Of course. I had an opportunity to give a talk here at the ASH meeting, and what we've learned about the cell in CLL cells, they really require support from their friends, from the microenvironment, and they also require signals received from that microenvironment. Now, out of that early work that we had done actually over a decade ago, actually it's come to the idea that by inhibiting the signaling of the cells from the microenvironment we can get a therapeutic outcome, that—you know, the kinase inhibitors, for example, are one application of that.

Now, if you ask the question, patients who are on kinase inhibitors but they're not yet being cured of the disease, can we go back to the analysis of what's in the microenvironment, ask the question are there other survival factors that are still on that we could try to block or inhibit, and by doing so we might be able then to get a one?two or a one?two?three punch? And so that is why we've been focusing a lot of attention on ROR1.

ROR1 turns out to be a survival growth factor for leukemia, and we had some data presented here at the ASH meeting showing that patients with very high levels of ROR1 tend to have a more aggressive disease, and we are developing antibodies. And we have one antibody now in the clinic that seems to block the function of this protein, and we've treated over a dozen patients so far.

That study's being done by Dr. Michael Choi at the Moores Cancer Center along with Dr. Cat Jamieson, and they're telling me that actually they're seeing patients tolerate this very well. And we're seeing some nodal reductions, even though we're starting out with a very low dose for a very limited amount of time.

So it's still early, but I'm excited about applying another form of treatment that targets another survival signal from the microenvironment, and we think that by combining up perhaps with the kinase inhibitors, perhaps with venetoclax (Venclexta), perhaps with the antibody against the ROR1 either by itself or in combination, we might be able to truly effect a cure for this disease. That would be fantastic.

Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.